‘Exports can increase with help of good planning’

The Agri-Forum Pakistan has claimed that exports can easily be increased to 35 billion dollars per annum with better planning and handing over the Commerce Ministry to a better person. Forum Chairman Doctor Ibrahim Mughal, who was critical of what he called “inept ministers”, on Monday told journalists, “We have to call back the corrupt and inept commercial attaches and appoint active and hardworking people and pay attention on value additional of our products to meet the target of enhancing exports.”

He also voiced his concern over the 22-billion-dollar trade deficit, claiming that it had never happened in the history of Pakistan. He termed these inept ministers and bureaucrats and nepotism as the reasons for this trade deficit. “If power outages have decreased, as the government claims, exports should increase, but instead they had decreased by 3 billion dollars as compared to last year,” he said.

He then claimed that the deficit could never be reduced unless nepotism ended and inept people in the Trade Ministry removed and proposed that Pakistani commercial counsellors and commercial attaches should be appointed on their honesty and hard work. “They should be assigned targets so that they could work to enhance the exports,” he added.